Priyanka
Chopra
made
the
nation
proud
when
she
won
Miss
World
crown
in
2000.
Soon,
it
was
Bollywood
calling
for
her
as
she
made
her
acting
debut
with
a
brief
appearance
in
Sunny
Deol-Preity
Zinta
starrer
The
Hero:
Love
Story
Of
A
Spy
in
2003.
The
following
year,
PeeCee
bagged
her
first
full-fledged
role
in
Raj
Kanwar's
Andaaz
alongside
Akshay
Kumar
and
Lara
Dutta.
The
actress
played
the
role
of
Jiya,
a
vivacious
young
girl
who
falls
in
love
with
Akshay
Kumar's
character
Raj.
Andaaz
was
a
box
office
success
and
the
soundtrack
of
the
romantic
drama
was
also
a
hit
with
the
masses.
Andaaz
completes
18
years
today
(May
23,
2021).
In
an
interaction
with
Spotboye,
filmmaker
Suneel
Darshan
who
bankrolled
this
movie,
walked
down
the
memory
lane
and
recalled
his
first
meeting
with
Priyanka
Chopra.
Suneel
revealed
that
initially
when
the
Quantico
actress
walked
into
his
office,
he
was
apprehensive
about
casting
her
in
Andaaz
as
she
didn't
fit
into
the
mould
and
perception
of
the
star
of
his
film.
He
was
quoted
as
saying
by
the
entertainment
portal,
"When
Priyanka
initially
walked
into
my
office
to
meet
me
for
this
movie,
I
had
a
bit
of
reservation
initially.
She
didn't
fit
into
the
mould
and
perception
of
the
star
of
my
movie.
I
had
to
launch
that
girl
to
become
a
star
so
I
had
to
be
convinced
myself."
Speaking
about
how
it
took
him
a
few
minutes
to
change
his
mind,
he
shared,
"Ten
minutes
into
sitting
with
Priyanka
and
talking
to
her,
I
had
observed
a
lot
of
things
about
her.
One
was
her
mellifluous
voice.
She
is
still
such
a
brilliant
talker
and
the
way
she
presented
the
conversation
was
mesmerising.
The
way
she
smartly
used
her
eyes
and
body
language,
she
was
an
actress
in
total."
However,
Andaaz
wasn't
the
first
film
that
Priyanka
Chopra
signed.
"By
the
time
she
came
to
me,
she
had
signed
about
four
movies
before
and
even
started
shooting
for
a
few,
I
was
told.
But
they
never
happened
and
were
all
shut
down.
She
was
in
a
phase
when
nothing
right
was
happening
and
she
was
contemplating
if
nothing
happened,
what
will
she
do.
When
you
go
through
that,
a
lot
of
people
don't
accept
you
for
the
way
you
are.
They
don't
see
your
finer
points
because
you
are
going
through
a
low," the
director-producer
told
the
entertainment
portal.
Suneel
Darshan
said
that
he
saw
the
same
potential
in
Priyanka
Chopra
that
he
had
seen
in
veteran
actress
Rekha.
He
recalled,
"I
was
very
sure,
along
with
my
team,
which
included
the
actors
and
the
technicians
on
the
film,
that
here
was
a
girl
who
had
all
the
potential
that
I
once
saw
in
a
person
I
had
interacted
with
and
observed
from
close
quarters
years
ago.
And
that
was
Rekha.
Initially
when
Rekha
came,
she
actually
was
the
person
who
evolved
and
I
believed
that
Priyank
Chopra,
in
the
process,
was
going
to
evolve
like
nobody's
business,
and
that
is
exactly
what
happened."
Post
Andaaz,
Priyanka
Chopra
and
Suneel
Darshan
teamed
up
again
for
the
2005
film
Barsaat
which
also
starred
Bobby
Deol
and
Bipasha
Basu.
Talking
about
their
collaboration,
he
shared,
"I
did
one
more
movie
with
her,
Barsaat.
I
presented
her
in
both
the
movies
independent
of
each
other,
and
I
felt
that
her
performance
in
Barsaat
was
brilliant.
Then
I
noticed
that
she
was
growing
and
it
was
time
for
her
to
move
on.
I
didn't
meet
her
after
that
until
she
invited
me
to
her
wedding
reception
a
few
years
ago.
She
introduced
me
to
her
husband,
Nick
Jonas,
as
the
person
who
introduced
her
and
gave
her
her
first
movie."
The
filmmaker
said
that
he
feels
a
sense
of
pride
when
he
sees
where
Priyanka
Chopra
stands
today.
"I
feel
very
happy
for
her.
The
heroines
I
have
worked
with,
I
categorize
them
as
Before
PC
and
After
PC.
The
girls
that
I
worked
with
before
Priyanka
Chopra
were
Karisma
Kapoor,
Kareena
Kapoor
Khan
and
Juhi
Chawla
and
they
were
very
different
from
Priyanka,"
Spotboye
quoted
him
as
saying.